We are supposed to be below 0F every night for the next 8 days - - - cattle and dogs all seem to be fine - - - dogs stay outside if I get it much above +50F in the kennel but with the radiant in floor hear 50 at eye level is about a 75 degree floor - - - the south end of each run is on an unheated floor so they can lay in their comfort zone.

I have an infrared thermoter and they lay where it is about 60 to 65 except for the young ones that lay in the 75 degree zone. Every run has a "doggy door" with large outside runs - - - PETA keeps running ads saying dogs have to be inside if below 40 - - - they do not realise God put dogs here to survive mother nature unless man messes things up!

Here on a spot just over 30 miles from Kadoka (to the southwest), Murdo (mostly east and a bit south) and Philip (west and a bit north), it was -38.8 degrees about 3AM this morning. Yesterday never got above about -5%, but the sun is shining and it LOOKS nice. We do have about 4 inches of fluffy snow, so are thankful there is no wind.

It's been a lot of years since we have gotten this cold, but it was even colder in our record year of 1936 when -56% was the low, and a +122 was the high in the summer. I've stated this before, but Shorty's dad always said he (born in July of 1936) was the only thing that grew on this ranch that year. His mother testified that those days before air conditioning made a summer pregnancy awfully miserable! A real benefit of being old on a family ranch is that we are sitting, sort of warm, in our living room watching the Rose Bowl while some younger members of our homegrown crew are out caking and watering cows!